Today, news surfaced that former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre plans to formally announce his retirement from mixed martial arts at a Thursday morning press conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The reports on this topic suggest St-Pierre has elected to hang up the gloves because his desired fight with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has failed to come to fruition.
Unsurprisingly, this massive Georges St-Pierre news generated some interesting reactions from his fellow fighters and a few other notable members of the MMA community.
See some of the best reactions to this surprising news below:
The most interesting reaction to this Georges St-Pierre news, of course, came from Khabib Nurmagomedov himself, who encouraged the Canadian legend to hold off on his retirement.
“Let’s do it in November.
After this fight you can retire. I grow up on your fights, and have nothing but respect for you, and I believe showed that to you George when you were in Moscow.
But, it would be honor for me to share Octagon with one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Let’s do it 155 lbs, or I give away 5lbs to you, cause you newer done 155.
Well, it’s your choice 155 or 160, Montreal, NYC, Moscow or Abu Dhabi.
Send me location my Friend” – Khabib Nurmagomedov on Instagram
Georges St-Pierre last fought in November of 2017, in the main event of UFC 217. On that night, he returned to the cage after a prolonged absence, defeating Michael Bisping to claim the UFC middleweight belt. St-Pierre vacated the middleweight title shortly thereafter.
His next most recent fight occurred all the way back in November of 2013, when he defended his well-guarded UFC welterweight belt with a hotly contested decision win over Johny Hendricks. The former champ is 26-2 overall.
What’s your reaction to the potential retirement of Georges St-Pierre?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/20/2019.